Match Day Thread Stoke City (away)

Nathan Jones says it will be the same squad options/ team at Stoke on Tuesday night.

Please God, do not play Fat Hernandez and Apter as full backs again.

Incidentally, the way the club has handled the Godden injury has been a disgrace.

A 6 week minor knock in early August has predictably become a near 4 month absence.

 

Bree will be back. I would like to see Fullah as left wing back.

 

A very difficult game looming. Surely we won’t get another pasting like Saturday as we haven’t seen football like that first half in decades.
So Apter and Hernandez only in a back 4. But only if we have to. Let them nowhere near a back 5 as they don’t track back.
I guess the reason Apter has practically vanished of late is precisely because of this.

 

Bree will be back.

 

Stoke have lost their last two so they'll not be playing with confidence.

 

So have we though. It’s going to be very difficult to rebuild our shattered confidence after only 4 days - with the same players - after that mauling on Saturday.

 

Apter’s Mum has been Liking social media posts from fans, critical of Nathan Jones’ treatment of her son. Something is definitely not right there.

 

A player's mum defending him against his gaffer on social media

Kind of the opposite of the Lynx effect

 

You’d expect nothing less from any decent Mum Lardi, regardless of the profession.

 

I was obviously looking at it from the player's point of view.
If my mum came to the factory where I work and berated the boss for bullying me (or even if she had a pop online) - regardless of her motivation or admirable loyalty, I would want the ground to open up and swallow me. Especially if I was only 22 years old.

Minus several million out of ten for coolness

If NJ drops Apter for the Stoke game I'm sure it will be for footballing reasons, and have nothing to do with interventions by his mother.
But it sounds like she won't see it that way

 

Apter was dropped for non footballing reasons. He was Player of the Month at the time. I’m not claiming he’s a world beater, and he’s certainly not a full back, but it didn’t sit well with me seeing him hooked after only 25 mins, while certain others in the team have been busking it for months now.

 

Oh well. Maybe his mum has a point then.
Nj probably just doesn't like him.
Who brought Apter to the Club in the first place? Jones presumably.

 

Apter received much praise for his performance against Watford, but I was unimpressed for the most part.

He is lightweight and prone to misplaced passes. I certainly wouldn't put him in the starting eleven. We must have better options.

 

I am truly puzzled why we signed him. Doesn’t fit into the Jones Profile.

 

Something went wrong with the recruitment this Summer. We spent nearly £4,000,000 on two players (Olaofe & Apter) that NJ won’t use.

Olaofe had plenty of suitors - do you think he would have signed for us if the club had told him “you are going to be back up to Miles Leaburn”

 

Given the limited selection options available, I can’t see us getting much tonight, unless Bree is providing a bit of star dust.

A pal of mine is on his way up there, and messaged me to say he expects the scoreline to end “Charlton 0”.

A 0-0 outcome is probably the best we can hope for.

Sureiy Godden is at least on the bench tonight

 

Make a team & score / result prediction in the prediction league thread @Royston Hawtrey

I've gone for a 4-0 drubbing by Stoke

 

Godden will not be on the bench.

 

Godden's talent for poaching in the box is null and void if we don't create chances for him.

Yes, we've won a fair few matches, but I still don't see the plethora of pinged crosses and through balls.

 

Mystic Dick.